North Korea: Nuclear Tests, Threats, & Missile Launches

“Perpetual peace is guaranteed by no less an authority than the great artist Nature herself.” – Immanuel Kant[1] Is there still hope for peace as North Korea advances its nuclear agenda? As the Second World War ended, the US and the Soviet Union divided Korea in half and the Korean War deepened the divide.[2] Today, North … Read more

Does Iran’s Ballistic Missile Test Detonate the Nuclear Deal?

On October 10 Iran successfully test launched a new precision-guided ballistic missile. On Wednesday, Britain, France, the United States, and Germany addressed a letter to the United Nations Security Council’s Iran Sanctions Committee claiming that the test violated a Security Council resolution prohibiting Iran from nuclear capable missile testing. In the wake of this allegation, and … Read more

The Interim Iranian Nuclear Deal: Enforcement and a Right to Enrichment

On January 20, 2014, an interim agreement over Iran’s nuclear program will go into effect. The agreement is a compromise between Iran and major Western powers reached on November 24, 2013. The terms of the agreement provide that Iran will scale back activities under its nuclear program, but not dismantle it entirely. This compromise has … Read more

North Korea Undeterred by U.N. Sanctions

Kim Jong-un

On April 15, 2013, North Korea celebrated the 101st birthday of its founding leader, Kim Il Sung.   The day was filled with flowers to honor both its founder and current leader, Kim Jong Un; however, North Korea did not take a reprieve from threatening South Korea and the United Nations.  From Pyongyang, North Korea’s capital, the … Read more

Critical Analysis: What’s up with North Korea?

Since being sanctioned by the UN in March for carrying out a third nuclear test, Pyongyang has threatened nuclear strikes on the US, formally declared war on the South, and pledged to reopen a nuclear reactor in blatant defiance of UN Security Council resolutions. On Friday, North Korea warned it would not be able to … Read more

Are Current U.N. Sanctions Insufficient to Deter North Korea’s Nuclear Proliferation?

2013 Nuclear Test While the exact details remain unknown, on February 13, 2013, North Korea conducted its first nuclear test since 2010.  Early morning reports of February 13 included a large seismic event located near a prior North Korean underground nuclear test site.  Following this report, the Korean Central News Agency released a government statement … Read more

Critical Analysis: Eccentric 90’s American Basketball Player Attempts Diplomacy – Korean War Reignites

  Late last month, Dennis Rodman traveled to North Korea to try his hand at unsanctioned “Basketball Diplomacy.”  More famous for his antics off the court, Rodman was a power forward for, among several other teams, the 1995 – 1998 championship winning Chicago Bulls.  Modeled after the ping pong diplomacy that the United States and … Read more

Critical Analysis: Division in Iranian Leadership

Some argue that the West is continually trying to find ways to contain Iran and their believed attempt to acquire nuclear weapons. Recent infighting shows that the country’s leadership may be splintering leading to a fissure in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Do these public confrontations present an opportunity for the West to find workable … Read more

If Iran is Nuclear, What Could (and Should) We Do?

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

The International Atomic Energy Agency plans to release an updated report on Iran, in which the Agency is expected to announce its belief that Iran has now mastered the critical steps that would allow it to build a nuclear weapon.  The report allegedly also says there is no evidence that Iran has decided to build … Read more